T he Whitehall Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Riverside Veteran’s Memorial Park both have some fixtures that need to be refurbished for safety purposes and the village recently received estimates on the costs of fixing these structures.
The list of estimates that the village board received for potential upgrades was ranked based on the urgency of each issue. Two areas in Whitehall were deemed areas of high concern, the back staircase at the Wastewater Treatment Plant and the railing that runs along the Riverside Veteran’s Memorial Park.
The staircase at the Wastewater Treatment Plant is currently in need of some repairs for safety purposes and for the time being, until the fixes are made, the village has shut off the back staircase and encouraged the utilization of the front staircase in its absence.
The estimate for the plant’s steel staircase repairs is currently set at $3,489.50 and this is at the top of the repair priority list, due to the safety concerns that revolve around it.
Mayor Peter Telisky said that this would be an issue he would let Village Trustee Ken Bartholomew tackle, seeing as Bartholomew spends ample time working at this location.
As for the railing at Riverside Veteran’s Memorial Park, the necessary enhancements have to do with some rotting posts, which local officials have noticed.
“Probably about two-thirds of the railings at the park are rotted.” Telisky explained to Village Trustee Marge Mohn, “About nine posts are rotted through.”
The estimate to repair the dilapidated railing at the park is $3,010.20 and the park currently has about $4,500 available in its fund, according to officials.
Telisky encouraged Mohn, who is the board member in charge of park’s funds, to utilize the available funds and have these repairs made.
Additionally, the park may be seeing new bike racks in the near future, with estimates for brand new bike racks hovering around the $200-300 price range. Mohn said she may even be able to talk with some area biking groups to receive bike racks even cheaper or entirely free.
Telisky told Mohn that with estimates so low on bike racks, it wouldn’t even be necessary for her to get board approval before utilizing the park funds on such a small expenditure.
The bike racks were not ranked as an area of high concern for the board, but Bartholomew described the current bike racks as “garbage” and said that the previous ones were “even worse.”